Toby Ziegler

Tobias Zachary "Toby" Ziegler (23 December 1954-) was White House Communications Director from 1999 to 2006, serving under President Josiah Bartlet.

Biography
Tobias Zachary Ziegler was born and raised in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, New York City, and he came from a working-class Jewish family. His father Jules Ziegler served in the US Army during the Korean War, and he worked for Murder, Inc. and as a raincoat maker. His sisters took him to anti-Vietnam War rallies in the 1960s, and his draft number for Vietnam was not called.

Ziegler worked as a Democratic Party political operative for years, working for campaigns such as New York City Council seats, Bronx borough president, and in House and Senate races. However, he had never been on a winning campaign before Josiah Bartlet's successful 1998 presidential bid, having only backed candidates who he felt should win. Bartlet rewarded his efforts by making him White House Communications Director, and he wrote both of Bartlet's inaugural addresses as well as his State of the Union addresses. In 2006, he was forced to resign for leaking the existence of a secret space shuttle.